Victoria’s sheep and goat industry is set for another year of Australian firsts, with critical infrastructure now being installed across saleyards and the entire supply chain.
Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford today spoke in Parliament of the great work underway around Victoria to help maximise the benefits of electronic identification across the sheep and goat supply chain.
Ouyen has become the first major saleyard to have fixed hardware fitted to scan electronically tagged sheep and goats, and equipment in both Sale and Leongatha in Gippsland are set to follow.
The saleyard equipment and software is funded through the Andrews Labor Government’s $17 million sheep and goat transition package, and to date, almost 10.7 million sheep and goats have been electronically tagged in Victoria since the reform commenced.
Since the start of the year, our meat processors have been recording and uploading the data from electronic tags to the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS), enabling fast and accurate traceability in the event of a serious animal disease or food safety issue.
To help producers and livestock agents get up to speed with how to record property-to-property and private sale data, the first of a series of 21 workshops is being held at Bairnsdale, Maffra and Koo Wee Rup this week.
Further workshops will be held next week at Swan Hill, Ouyen, Birchip and St Arnaud.
Sheep and goat producers in Victoria continue to benefit from the support package with subsidised electronic ear tags from just 45 cents per tag, and on-going access to information and advice.
The technology not only protects market access for our valuable livestock industries, it allows producers and others in the supply chain to understand more about their livestock throughout their lives and the opportunity to use this data to drive greater productivity.
To read more on this change and the upcoming workshops, visit .
Quotes attributable to Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford
“Victoria is set for another year of ground-breaking progress as the state becomes the first in Australia to have a robust traceability system for sheep and goats based on electronic identification technology.”
“Each year, approximately five million sheep are sold at our saleyards – five million reasons why accurate traceability data is critical for our livestock industries."
"Victoria is leading the way with this reform, giving our producers and the whole state an advantage, and creating the agricultural jobs of the future.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020